America is No. 1 with a bullet

We barely had time to bury the victims in Colorado before another mass murderer with a legally owned gun made news Sunday.

We barely had time to bury the victims in Colorado before another mass murderer with a legally owned gun made news Sunday.

Thankfully, I learned my lesson a couple of weeks ago when I wrote that I believed there might be some legislation possible that would help remedy the issue on two fronts.

We need to make mental health more accessible and guns less accessible.

Of course, thanks to the many people who responded, I know now that I was wrong.

You can't modify or add gun laws. Otherwise, we would become socialist or communist government -- or some other governmental system that conservatives equally revile and misunderstand -- overnight.

Sure the Fourth Amendment has survived so many changes that the Patriot Act was somehow deemed constitutional. After all, the framers of the constitution could never have imagined an Internet or other modern technology, so how could the Fourth Amendment survive a strict interpretation?

The Second Amendment, on the other hand, must be construed exactly as written. James Madison and Thomas Jefferson wanted me to wear a sidearm into Red Lobster.

According to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, I could even haul around a rocket-propelled grenade launcher, as long as I was able to "bear" the "arms" in question.

The only two things that the Colorado and Wisconsin shootings had in common is that a lot of innocent people died and all of the guns used were owned legally.

One was carried out by a lunatic who spent money on both counselors and guns. He dreamed up a plan and carried it out. The other was carried out by a man with a military background and ties to white supremacy groups.

Knowing the intellectual acumen it takes to be a white supremacist, the Wisconsin shooter probably confused the Sikhs he murdered with Muslims. White supremacy groups aren't known for their attention to subtle details like which actual religion is to be blamed for all of their problems.

But the fact that these guns in both cases were purchased and carried legally right up to the point where they were used to kill people should never lead us onto that slippery slope of gun control legislation.

The best thing to do now is to bury our heads a little deeper in the sand and pretend there is nothing that could have been done to prevent the last attack and nothing more that could be done to prevent one today, tomorrow or next week.

If the news reports get too loud, just go down to the gun range and shoot off a couple of boxes of ammo. After all, we don't want to turn into a bunch of pansy communists who live in a society where only criminals have guns. Right?

We can't let Virginia Tech, Tuscon, Aurora or Oak Creek victims convince us that gun control laws might be less onerous than mopping up the blood after rampages.

Thankfully, the NRA and Republican legislators have made sure that these incidents have not led to tighter restrictions. In fact, since the Tuscon shooting, the only gun control legislation passed has been to allow people to own and carry firearms more freely.

It seems to be working. After all, only six people were killed -- not counting the shooter -- Sunday. Twice that many were killed in Aurora. Next time, we might be under five.

If only some of those Sikhs would have had concealed firearms at their place of worship.

They could have shot that white supremacist before he was able to create more victims.

The American Bar Association says that America has a rate of death from firearms that is eight times higher than our peer countries. They point at firearms-related deaths among children as being 12 times higher than 25 other industrialized countries combined. We also have the highest rate of homicides and suicides among the 26 wealthiest nations.

Those are just silly facts. We can't let those influence our legislation.

We're No. 1 with a bullet in all of those categories.

Maybe we could use our No. 1 ranking to increase tourism. Sure, you might get shot and become a statistic, but we also have a very good 24-hour news cycle, so the chances are good that your death will be covered very well -- unless one of the Kardashians tweets a picture of herself in a bikini, and then you're out of luck.

Common sense says we can regulate gun ownership without infringing on a person's right to own a gun to protect their family or hunt ducks and deer.

But since when has common sense mattered? As the bumper sticker says, we'll pry your gun from your cold dead hand.

Hopefully, you have it with you when the next lunatic or white supremacist goes on a rampage -- and that might be sooner than you think.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.